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The compromise of 1850 resolved the divisions of slavery gained in the Mexican American war. The compromise had laws saying that California was a free state, and making Utah and New Mexico territories with the option of slavery to be determined by popular vote. It also settled a Texas- New Mexico disagreement in Texas' favor. The compromise ended the slave trade in Washington, DC. The most controversial part of the compromise of 1850 is how it made it made it easier for southerners to recover fugitive slaves.

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Henry Foote that represented Mississippi said, "I hold that congress has, under the Constitution, no such legislative power at all, and that any attempt thus to legislate would be a gross fraud upon all the states of the union."

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Uncle Tom's Cabin is a novel that tells the story of Uncle Tom, who was portrayed as a respectable slave. The author of the book wanted to show what it was like to be a slave and help the public understand what it was like. In the story, Tom saves the life of a little girl and the girls father buys Tom. When the girl dies she wants her dad to free all slaves but before he could do so, he also died. Then Tom's new owner whips Tom to death because Tom would not tell him where the other slaves were. Tom is very religious so he says he will live forever with Christ. The novel helps explain slavery to the people who don't have to go through it.

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Abraham Lincoln is said to have called the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe, “the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war.”

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Bleeding Kansas was used to describe the violent conditions during the settling of Kansas territory. They had to decide if there should be slavery in the new territory. Both anti slavery and pro slavery settlers went to Kansas to try to get the decision to go there way. As an attempt to have more votes for there side, they started to kill people. They would kill people from the opposing side so that they would have less people to vote in there favor. The Abolitionist John Brown led anti slavery fighters to Kansas before his raid on Harper's Ferry.

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James Abbott wrote an account between 1855-1860, he said, "While the Proslavery men claimed that the object of calling out this posse was for the purpose of enforcing the laws, and arresting the Branson rescuers, yet it was perfectly apparent that the sole motive was to frighten and drive out the free state settlers from the Territory, and deter others from coming here to settle, to the end that Kansas might become a slave state."

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In March of 1857, the United States Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, declared that all blacks, slaves as well as free, were not and could never become citizens of the United States. The court also declared the 1820 Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, which permitted slavery in all of the country's territories. Dred Scott was a slave who lived in the free states of Illinois and Wisconsin, before moving to the slave state of Missouri, was hoping to be granted freedom when he appealed to the Supreme court. Taney said that because Scott was black, he was not a citizen, and had no right to sue. Referring to the Declaration of Independence, "all men are created equal". Taney reasoned that "it is too clear for dispute, that the enslaved African race were not intended to be included, and formed no part of the people who framed and adopted this declaration" . Abolitionists were furious, but Fredrick Douglas found a bright side to the situation, and his decision would bring slavery to the attention of the nation, and was a step toward destroying slavery.

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The supreme court chief justice, Roger Taney said in the case decision that slaves, "had no rights which the white man was bound to respect"

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John Brown was born in Connecticut and raised in Ohio. He spent his life failing at a variety of businesses, and declared bankruptcy at 42. His life changed when he attended an abolition meeting, where he was so moved that he announced his dedication to demolishing the institution of slavery. As soon as 1848, he was formulating a plan. In the 1850s, he traveled with five of his sons to Kansas, to fight against the pro slavery forces in the contest over that territory. They killed five men, and one of his sons were killed that night. He returned, and began carrying out his plan of a mass uprising of slaves. He created an army which soon grew to 22 men including black men and three of his sons. On October 16, 1859, Brown and his army overran an arsenal, where they rounded up a few hostages and slaves. Word of the raid spread, and they were soon surrounded. Ten of his men were killed, including two of his sons.

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Letter from Charles White to John Felt, November 10, 1859
"Brown and his men must have been in town as accurately as we can discover about Eleven o'clock Sunday night-as the watchman in the bridge who was taken by them a prisoner had stuck his last peg at half past ten"

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One major difference between the north and the south is the climates. The climate in the north favored smaller farmsteads instead of big plantations, and industry thrived because of the abundance of natural resources that were unavailable in the south. The climate in the south was ideal for large farms and crops like cotton and tobacco, and because agriculture was so profitable, most southerners didn't see a need for industrial development. Economy in the south was based on agriculture, while in the north, it's based on manufacturing. Population was another difference. In the north, the population consisted of mostly Irish, Germans, and other Europeans. In the south, it was mostly English and Scottish and enslaved Africans.

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Heading from a Newspaper Article from October 4, 1860
"North the aggressor--- the South on the Defensive"

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Election of 1860, Secession, and Attack on Fort Sumter

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Election of 1860, Secession, and Attack on Fort Sumter

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The election was between Republican, Abraham Lincoln and Democrat, Stephen Douglas. Lincoln emerged victorious and became the 16th president of the United States of America. As Lincoln was elected the force of events moved very fast, and South Carolina acted first, calling for a convention to secede, or formally withdraw membership from the union. State by state, conventions were held, and the confederacy formed. Within three months, seven states had seceded. The battle of Sumter was the first battle of the Civil War. It started with 80 soldiers on the union side, and 500 confederate soldiers, and ended with a confederate victory.

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Lincoln and Hamlin, Campaign poster from 1860.
"All Republicans who have the good of our common country at heart- all who believe with us that National Honor, at least, if not National Existence, depends on the complete overthrow... of the corrupt and unscrupulous Sham-Democracy".

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Which do you think was the most important or major cause of the Civil War and why?

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Which do you think was the most important or major cause of the Civil War and why?

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We both think that the most important cause of the Civil war was the Compromise of 1850, because it started this string of events about slavery and caused lots of controversy and disagreements between the north and south.

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What is the overarching theme running through all seven causes?

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What is the overarching theme running through all seven causes?

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The overarching theme we see is that all of the events happened because of slavery and how the north and the south had different opinions on it. Without slavery there would have been no reason for any of these events because the sides wouldn't have disagreed.

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What would you have done to prevent a Civil War? Why? 

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What would you have done to prevent a Civil War? Why? 

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We wouldn't have tried to prevent the war because it was a key step in developing the country we have today. Even though the war was a violent part of history, without the war we may have been divided into 2 nations. Also, we could still have slavery today if we didn't have the war. So we think that it would have been worse to try to prevent the war since it was a key part to end slavery and become one nation.